Three Poems by Julia Mounsey

The Cause

I hurt your ghost.
People can do that
and I found out how.

There was no cry,
but the wind knows
and is angry with me.

It blows the leaves off the trees.
It makes the temperature drop.

It moves baby carriages down the street,
away from mothers, away from everyone.

All of Us

a female sea shape slopes
out of the water and onto the real planet
the one that is dry and has us on it

she cries with teeth

she is too crowded
with sea fish

to be loved by anyone

no one will have sex with her
or touch her face

she smells               is pitied

we find her a bed to sleep in
and find ourselves beds to sleep in

we dream of an object

that is easily dismantled
and then rebuilt

as a ship guaranteed to sink

What To Do

turn left and lose your figure

you have become fat

you have gained cake

this is best because you are fat
and cake, it suits you

turn left and lose your hair

you have become bald

you have gained butter

this is best because you are bald
and your head, butter makes it shine

turn left and lose your way

you have become lost

you have gained an ocean

this is good because you are lost
and the ocean is cold

and you have arrived
cake into cold water
cake into cold water

JULIA MOUNSEY is a writer and performance artist living in Queens. Her work has been published in Bennington College’s literary and arts magazine The Silo. Her work has been seen at The Silent Barn, Cloud City, Muchmore’s, Ars Nova, and the Cunneen-Hacket Arts Center in New York. She currently works with the New York based performance group GRANDMA.